Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle Reviews
Only gamers who specifically love dungeon crawling and the 1600s Japan setting should keep an eye out for this game during a 50% or higher price drop. Others will likely be frustrated by long and repetitive combat in a generally very repetitive game.
Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle is a unique exploration RPG on Switch that doesn't live up to its concept.
Hyakki Castle looks and plays great, but simply has too many issues to recommend to a general audience. What the game achieves in its setting design and leveling system comes at the cost of a half-baked “party splitting” feature, a frustrating save system, and a 720p resolution lock.
Hyakki Castle promises an interesting premise but can deliver on little else besides some pretty loading screen concept art.
It is really depressing to play a game like Hyakki Castle. It has some things that could have made it a good game in a vastly underrepresented genre. It got the atmosphere just right, which is one of the most difficult things to nail perfectly. However, it is dragged down by many things that while independently does not ruin a game, it destroys the game when combined. Bad mouse and keyboard controls would not ruin a game, but the painful process of making gamepads work with the game does as it is almost mandatory to use a gamepad to enjoy the game at all, and do not even get started on the hunger system that makes exploring, which is one of the core pillars of enjoyment in the genre heavily, punishable. In the end, while it is easy to want to like Hyakki Castle and see how it could have been a great game, it is too hard to not see that it isn't a good game.
Simple, satisfying, vertical and easy to binge on, like a tube of Pringles. Hyakki Castle feels like a generic alternative. It'll fill the gap for a while, but once you pop, stopping might be easier than you'd hope.
If you're in for some meditative classic gaming, Hyakki Castle is for you. It's a game that knows exactly what it is, and it has no interest in punishing you or making you feel like you don't get it. It's a friendly, old-style game that wants you to succeed, and that seems to be less and less present now. It also has cat people in it.